Does anybody know a good book about the history of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan? I’m mostly interested in the political aspects, like their treatment by the government, rights issues and so on and less in cultural and ethnological aspects.
Thanks!
I don’t know of any books but the Sun-Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines would be a good start.
Mmm, that’s a bit tricky in English. You will find bits of interest interspersed with other articles of lesser interest in Austronesian Taiwan, edited by David Blundell (ISBN: 0-936127-09-0), but most of the stuff available in English makes scant mention of the post-Second World War period.
You might also want to take a trip to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines (very close to the National Palace Museum) and look through the monographs they have on sale there. There’s quite a lot available from the Dutch era (1624–1662), for example in the massive four-volume set of The Formosan Encounter (eds. Blussé & Everts). Of course this is mostly from the viewpoint of the colonisers rather than the colonised, but it’s better than nothing.
Edit: Teggs beat me to the Shung Ye recommendation.
Thanks, I’ll check out Austronesian Taiwan tomorrow. I might head over to the museum on the weekend.
I’ve been reading [part of a series] The Exquisite Heritage. The culture and arts of Taiwan Aborigines (Gāo shā chūnqiū : Táiwān yuánzhùmín zhī wénhuà yìshù / 高砂春秋 : 台灣原住民之文化藝術) (ISBN 957-99222-5-X), by Rainbow Sign Publishing Co.
Nice book and explains the different tribes are geographic locations and deals with the history and politics at an easy level (i.e.; not too in-depth).
Hope that helps.
Will have a look at that one too, thanks!
Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800, by John Shepherd, is an excellent book that covers some of what you’re looking for – at least in terms of the early days. SMC (Nantian) has a domestically produced reprint for not too much money.
For that matter, SMC prints most of the books listed above, so you should go to that store (near Tai-Da).
[quote=“cranky laowai”]Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800, by John Shepherd, is an excellent book that covers some of what you’re looking for – at least in terms of the early days. SMC (Nantian) has a domestically produced reprint for not too much money.
For that matter, SMC prints most of the books listed above, so you should go to that store (near Tai-Da).[/quote]
Yes, I also highly recommend this.
[quote=“cranky laowai”]Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800, by John Shepherd, is an excellent book that covers some of what you’re looking for – at least in terms of the early days. SMC (Nantian) has a domestically produced reprint for not too much money.
For that matter, SMC prints most of the books listed above, so you should go to that store (near Tai-Da).[/quote]
Amazon.com has it for US$90 (yes, ninety dollars).
Why don’t these small-print-run academic books come out in Kindle format?
[quote=“StevenCrook”][quote=“cranky laowai”]Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier, 1600-1800, by John Shepherd, is an excellent book that covers some of what you’re looking for – at least in terms of the early days. SMC (Nantian) has a domestically produced reprint for not too much money.
For that matter, SMC prints most of the books listed above, so you should go to that store (near Tai-Da).[/quote]
Amazon.com has it for US$90 (yes, ninety dollars).
Why don’t these small-print-run academic books come out in Kindle format?[/quote]
NTNU library lets me borrow it for free. 
[quote=“StevenCrook”]Amazon.com has it for US$90 (yes, ninety dollars).
Why don’t these small-print-run academic books come out in Kindle format?[/quote]
Careful what you wish for. Routledge often does Kindle editions of these kinds of books. For example:
amazon.com/Politics-Differen … B0053D6FGW
Hardcover: $148. Kindle: $112 (no, that’s not a typo: one hundred and twelve). The budget rental price: $51.41. Absurd, and infuriating - Routledge has got plenty of academic titles that I’d happily buy if they were in the $10-15 range, but at $112, is ANYONE buying them? Heck, at that price I don’t even order it for my university library, because I feel guilty about asking them to spend that kind of money.
One more for you:
The Puyuma: From Headhunting to the Modern World
Josiane Cauquelin
Routledge
ISBN: 0-415-31413-5